1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates a system and method for removing foreign particles from a semiconductor device during a semiconductor device manufacturing process.
2. Description of Related Art
As disclosed in, for example, JP-A-2003-10992, one method of removing foreign particles such as dust particles that become adhered to a semiconductor device during a dicing process involves spraying a gas such as air onto the device. JP-A-Hei 04-129208 discloses another particle removal method in which foreign particles adhered to a semiconductor device are vacuumed and removed from the device by spraying gas on the device while at the same time vibrating the semiconductor device.
However, in the above methods, the foreign particles tend to scatter circumferentially when the gas is sprayed on the semiconductor device. As a result, other semiconductor processing equipment becomes polluted by the foreign particles. In addition, when plural semiconductor devices are simultaneously processed, the foreign particles removed from one semiconductor device tend to pollute other clean semiconductor devices.
The above methods therefore require a significant amount of time to be spent in cleaning the processing equipment or in predisposing the polluted semiconductor devices that needed to be cleaned.
In the above discussed method in which gas is sprayed on the semiconductor device at the same time as the semiconductor device is vibrated, the semiconductor device is covered directly with a cover so that the removed foreign particles are not scattered.
However, the vibration of the semiconductor device causes the semiconductor device to rub the cover and therefore possibly generate additional dust. It is thus necessary for such a cover to cover the entire platform on which the semiconductor device is mounted. As this method requires both a device for spraying gas on the semiconductor device and a device for removing the foreign particles, cost is added to the overall manufacturing process.